Association between estrogen receptor alpha PvuII polymorphism and prostate cancer risk

Accumulating evidence has suggested that estrogen receptor alpha (ER-α) PvuII polymorphism might be involved in the development of prostate cancer (PCa). However, the results have been inconsistent. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to clarify the associations between ER-α PvuII polymorphism and PCa. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify all case–control studies of ER-α PvuII polymorphism and PCa risk. We used odds ratios (ORs) to assess the strength of the association and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) to give a sense of the precision of the estimate. A total of 14 studies were found to be eligible for meta-analyses of PvuII variant. Results from this study showed that ER-α PvuII polymorphism were significantly associated with PCa risk under all genetic models in overall population (homogeneous codominant model, OR = 1.57, 95 % CI = 1.11–2.21, P = 0.010; heterogeneous codominant model, OR = 1.37, 95 % CI = 1.06–1.77, P = 0.02; recessive model, OR = 1.27, 95 % CI = 1.02–1.57, P = 0.03; dominant model, OR = 1.40, 95 % CI = 1.09–1.79, P = 0.009; and allelic model, OR = 1.25, 95 % CI = 1.06–1.48, P = 0.010). Further sensitivity analysis confirmed the significant association. In subgroup analyses stratified by PCa type, there was a significant association between PvuII polymorphism and sporadic PCa risk under both Caucasians and Asians. The meta-analysis indicated elected PvuII polymorphism of ER-α was a risk factor for PCa development.